[ENG] On a population of 60,599,936, Istat reports that in Italy 28.7% of people are at risk of "poverty or social exclusion". Within this framework, house, water, light and gas account for 36% of the average annual expenditure and in 2016 were executed 35,336 evictions.3,888 only in Turin: it is the highest rate among Italian cities, with 1 eviction every 241 families, an average of 9 every day.

To cope with the difficult housing condition, the municipality of Turin offers 5 communal baths to help those who can’t count on a home or who do not have a shower in their apartment. These 5 public lavatories are part of a much bigger series of 15 buildings erected between 1900 and 1960 with different and entangling architecture style, that served as public lavatory and restrooms when the average housing conditions didn’t guarantee toilettes and showers in every house. These buildings have played a consistent role in the development of many neighborhoods and community, offering basic services to disadvantaged and underprivileged working class citizens of the so called case di ringhiera – railing houses, the name used to refer to social housing units with the typological characteristic of a common balcony and generally lacking sanitation in the apartments.

It can be seen as an outdated memory of the past t, but with the economic crisis of the 2000s many of these house without toilets resurfaced on the rent market. Municipal baths, besides offering a basic service for those living in harsh housing conditions, hide stories of daily struggle, social cohesion and solidarity. Each brick, each ceramic tile, each pipe is part of the history and memory of the outskirts of Turin, and still play a key role in mitigating housing degradation phenomena resurfaced with the contemporary economic contraction.

Produced with the support of ICP - International Center of Photography and Camera - Centro Italiano per la Fotografia Torino.